450 



is that of the Rio Catuche ; but the richer class 

 have their water brought from La Valle, a vil- 

 lage a league distant on the south. This wa- 

 ter and that of Gamboa are reckoned very 

 salubrious, because they flow over the roots 

 of sarsaparilla *. I could not discover in them 

 any aromatic or extractive matter. The water 

 of the valley does not contain any lime, but 

 a little more carbonic acid than the water of 

 the Anauco. The new bridge over this river 

 is a handsome structure, and is frequented by 

 those, who walk toward Candelaria, on the 

 road to Chacao and Petare. Caraccas contains 

 eight churches, five convents, and a theatre 

 that holds fifteen or eighteen hundred per- 

 sons. When I was there, the pit, where the 

 men are separate from the women, was unco- 

 vered. We saw at once the actors, and the 

 stars. As the misty weather made me lose a 

 great many observations of Jupiter's satellites, 

 I was able to ascertain from a box in the theatre 

 whether the planet would be visible that night. 

 The streets of Caraccas are wide, straight, and 

 crossing each other at right angles, as in all the 

 towns built by the Spaniards in America. The 



* Throughout America the waters are supposed to share 

 the properties of those plants, under the shade of which they 

 flow. Thus at the straits of Magellan that water is much 

 praised, which touches the roots of the canella winterana. 

 Viage al Magellanes, 1788, p. 315. 



